Congress Wants Obama to Force AT&T/DoJ Settlement

A handful of members of the House of Congress have written President Obama a letter formally requesting that he intervene in the Department of Justice's lawsuit against AT&T. Specifically, the representatives want the president to force the Justice Department to settle the lawsuit in favor of the merger. The representatives believe that the merger will be good for the country and create jobs. "The road to economic recovery is long, but there is an opportunity before us to immediately create jobs and spur infrastructure investments and technological innovations that will create jobs for years to come," said Rep. Heath Shuler in the letter. "By settling the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA we can put thousands of Americans back to work and promote economic development across the country. I urge the President to strongly consider the vast benefits this merger will have on job creation and the economy and quickly resolve any concerns the Administration may have with the proposal." The DoJ sued to block the merger because it feels the combined companies will have too much market power. Sprint representative John B. Taylor was quick to respond to the letter. He said, "Make no mistake, AT&T’s proposed takeover of T-Mobile will eliminate tens of thousand of jobs across the country. The flawed economic study embraced by AT&T and its union ignores what Wall Street investors and the Federal Government have been already been promised: that the overall investment for the combined companies will be substantially reduced if the proposed transaction closes." Sprint has also sued to block the merger. The judge overseeing the DoJ case has called for a hearing on September 21, and wants the parties involved to reach a settlement agreement. The Federal Communications Commission is also still reviewing the proposal.